The Archer Fish
The Archer Fish
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弓箭鱼
DOI：
10.1038/scientificamerican0763-100
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发表时间：
1963
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
K. H. Lüling
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
K. H. Lüling
1764年，伦敦皇家学会的一位名叫约翰·阿尔伯特·施洛瑟的人向他的同事们描述了一种非常普通的动物：东印度的”jac ulator "，即“射鱼"。施洛瑟报告说，”这条狡猾的鱼，”看见水面上一株植物上有一只苍蝇，”就从它的管状口中喷出一滴水，这滴水总是把苍蝇打到海里，苍蝇很快就成了它的猎物。“虽然施洛瑟的故事在某些细节上不准确，但它基本上是正确的。尽管如此，学者们还是对它和许多类似的报告不屑一顾。直到本世纪初，俄国鱼类学家N.佐洛特尼斯基不厌其烦地观察一些弓箭鱼，这些鱼是进口的，放在水族馆里。他证实了施洛瑟对他们射击能力的描述，并指出了他们行为的其他几个方面。箭鱼成为一种受欢迎的水族馆标本，但直到20世纪30年代，一位美国鱼类学家才描述了使其能够作为活水枪的解剖结构。十年前，我着手研究射鱼的特殊行为，据我所知，这在动物王国中是独一无二的。弓虫属（来自希腊语中的“弓箭手”）的栖息地从印度到澳大利亚的东北端。弓形虫适应于海洋边缘的各种环境：沿海咸水、红树林沼泽、海湾和河口的半咸水沃茨;它甚至在河流中向上移动一段距离。在已鉴定的5个种中，T. iaculatrix（Schlosser的“jaculator”）是最有名的，也是我经常使用的。这是一种小鱼，最大长度约为7英寸，
In 1764 John Albert Schlosser, a Fel low of the Royal Society of London, described to his colleagues an extra ordinary animal: the East Indian" jac ulator, or shooting fish." Schlosser re ported that" this cunning fish," sighting a fly on a plant above the water," ejects out of its tubular mouth a single drop of water, which never fails striking the fly into the sea, where it soon becomes its prey." Although Schlosser's story was inaccurate in some of its details, it was essentially correct. Scholars nonetheless discounted it and many similar reports. Only at the beginning of this century did the Russian ichthyologist N. Zolot nisky take the trouble to observe some archer fish that had been imported and placed in an a< luarium. He confirmed Schlosser's account of their shooting prowess and noted several other aspects of their behavior. The archer fish became a popular aquarium specimen, but it was not until the 1930's that a US ich thyologist could describe the anatomi cal structures that enable it to function as a living water pistol. Ten years ago I undertook to investigate the remarkably specialized behavior of the archer fish behavior that so far as I know has no parallel in the animal kingdom. The habitat of the genus Toxotes (from the Greek word for" archer") ranges from India to the northeastern tip of Australia. Toxotes is adapted to vari ous environments at the edge of the sea: coastal salt water, the brackish waters of mangrove swamps, bays and estuar ies; it even moves some distance up stream in rivers. Of the five species that have been distinguished, T. iaculatrix (Schlosser's" jaculator") is the best known and the one with which I have usually worked. It is a small fish, attain ing a maximum length of about seven inches, and is silvery in color with dark